


Takes a Little Extra Time, but it All Works Out

by Corinnesamuels



Series: Guarding the Gates [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, James Potter is a good dad, Sort Of, Uncle Padfoot, after the war, jily, jily au, jily fic - Freeform, they live
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:34:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corinnesamuels/pseuds/Corinnesamuels
Summary: “Why do I get the idea that you’re up to mischief?” Lily said into his neck, making him shiver a bit.“I’m calling Sirius to watch Harry for the day so that we can get into some mischief.” He said, rolling on top of her and pressing his hips into hers to prove his point. “Harry needs a sibling.”Lily laughed, a tinkering sound that he could never get enough of. “Making this about Harry’s needs, are we?”“More than one thing can be true at a time, love.”In which James reflects on how good life after the war has been to his family . . . or something like that.
Relationships: Harry Potter & James Potter & Lily Evans Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Series: Guarding the Gates [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2190144
Comments: 19
Kudos: 52





	Takes a Little Extra Time, but it All Works Out

**Author's Note:**

> I neither own Harry Potter, it's characters and references, nor the Gavin DeGraw song that inspired this fic.
> 
> I'm also not with the TERF shit.

_I can’t live without you, set my goals around you_

_Takes a little extra time, but it all works out_

Lily never had been a morning person.

And as the sun filters through the curtains of their bedroom window, casting shadows and streams of light across her face, James finds himself grateful for quiet moments like these, taking her in and marveling at how a sod like him had ever gotten so lucky.

He can’t imagine a version of his life without her, even on their worst days.

They’d had plenty of them. Their days as kids at Hogwarts before he’d grown out of being an arrogant berk. Petty disagreements that escalated into all-out rows . . . and then, as much as he’d like to forget it, there was the war. 

He’d hated those days.

They had given up their lives to become soldiers. They were too young to have seen the things they’d seen during those years. The disappearances and deaths, the stories of torture. It had challenged everything they had thought they were. But Lily had been a beacon for him. Not just a girlfriend or a wife, but a partner he could literally go to war with. James had thrown himself in front of more wands than he could count for her, ready to give his last without a moment’s hesitation. She hated it, but she understood. She had often done the same for him.

And then they’d had Harry. Their beautiful, happy boy. James beamed with pride at the thought of their son, his spitting image, but with the same eyes he’d fallen in love with a thousand times over. He was perfect, even on the nights he cried all evening and couldn’t be consoled.

. . . Okay, he was a little less perfect on those nights. But his son hung the _moon_.

But somehow, before Harry had even started crawling, he’d ended up with a target on his back. He’d never forget the day Dumbledore told them that Voldemort believed the prophecy referred to their son. To _his_ son.

They’d gone into hiding right away. James and Lily did their best to make their small cottage feel more like a home and less like a prison, wanting to focus on creating the best life possible for Harry and for each other. Harry and Lily had been troopers and kept him sane. He tried his best to hide how difficult a time he had been having with it, but he never had been good at sitting still for very long.

And just when it seemed like they were losing hope, Voldemort was gone, and they were free again. They could take Harry to the park and for walks in the pram. They went to quidditch matches, where he told his old teammates at Puddlemere that his son was a star chaser in the making and already had a better arm than them, the wankers. They retaliated by getting him pissed at the pub that night, and Lily was none too pleased. She spent the next morning hiding the hangover potion, letting Harry be as loud as possible in James’ ear, and cooing about what a great seeker Harry would be.

He’d married an evil genius.

Once she finally took pity on him and gave him the hangover potion, he took Harry’s miniature stuffed quaffle and did Quidditch drills with him in the back yard. Harry, still in nappies, spent most of the time distracted by various things and yelling “Kidish!” every so often. It mattered not. James had a point to prove.

Now that Harry was approaching his fourth birthday, James’ work of indoctrinating his son was paying off. Harry pulled James outside nearly every day for a fly, insisting on riding the toy brooms Sirius kept buying him for his birthdays until he wanted to fly higher and allowed James to fly the two of them on his Comet. Until then, James always hovered alongside Harry on his broom, ready to jump into action if necessary, though he was never too worried. Harry had a remarkably strong grip for his age. But yesterday, Harry had gotten distracted by an owl delivering the post, and James had to leap over the broom to catch him. He wasn’t quite in the same shape he had once been in, so the two Potters ended up toppling over into the mud.

Lily was none too pleased when they trekked mud into the sitting room after flying around for a little longer. James and Harry both grinned at her sheepishly, running muddy hands through their identical mops of jet-black hair. James tidied it up with a wave of his wand, and after giving Harry a bath and putting him down for a nap, he made sure to make it up to her _thoroughly._

He was thinking of making it up to her again right now, actually.

He pulled her closer to him, and she nuzzled into his neck instinctively, still very much asleep. He ran a hand down her side, skimming the hem of her nightgown as he did some quick calculations. Remus was undoubtedly still exhausted from the full moon, so he wouldn’t have the energy to watch Harry, who had been giving the Marauders a run for their sickles lately. None of them remembered their joints being nearly as achy as they were after spending a day keeping up with Harry.

He hoped Sirius had been doing his stretches because he was about to call in a favor. Making up his mind, he reached for the mirror in his side-table drawer.

“Why do I get the idea that you’re up to mischief?” Lily said into his neck, making him shiver a bit.

“I’m calling Sirius to watch Harry for the day so that _we_ can get into some mischief.” He said, rolling on top of her and pressing his hips into hers to prove his point. “Harry needs a sibling.”

Lily laughed, a tinkering sound that he could never get enough of. “Making this about Harry’s needs, are we?”

“More than one thing can be true at a time, love.” He said, kissing her on the neck. She sighed.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have time for mischief this morning. I have to check on the potions stores at St. Mungo’s today.”

“Have someone else check. I’ll pay them double their rate for the day.”

Lily laughed again, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’re too rich for your own good.”

“ _We_. What’s mine is yours, love. And I really don’t want to share you with St. Mungo’s today when we could be spending the day in bed.” He said, resuming his work on her neck and that spot behind her ear that he liked.

“Not even with Harry?” At this, James paused his ministrations and propped himself on his elbows to look her in the eyes.

“Harry is the most clever, beautiful boy in all of Britain, and a world cup chaser in the making.” He said, ignoring Lily’s eye roll. “But today is a day for him and his Uncle Padfoot to wreak havoc on some unsuspecting township not called Godric’s Hollow. I can feel it in my bones. And I’d very much like to feel you on my bones while they’re gone.”

She giggled this time, clearly enjoying his suffering, but James powered through.

“If we’re quick, we can get a round in before Harry wakes up and iron out the rest of the details la—”

The pitter-patter of tiny feet, followed by a crash in the hallway and the angry howls of their aging cat, quickly derailed that line of thinking. James rolled off of her with a disappointed groan.

Lily sat up and reached for her dressing gown. “I’ll go see what the damage is. You call Sirius and let Gringotts know your latest plans to be reckless with your galleons.” She said with a wink.

James’ eyes nearly bulged out his head, and he dove for the side table drawer with such force that he very nearly knocked it over. “Our galleons!” he called, as an afterthought.

He grabbed the mirror and called for Sirius. “James!” he smiled when his face appeared in the mirror.

“Padfoot! Listen, I need a favor—”

“James?”

“Sirius, can you hear me?” Something wasn’t right. They had never had trouble communicating through their mirrors before.

“James? Wake up—”

“Wake up? I’m not asleep. What’s going on?” A rat raced across the bedroom into the hallway. Where did that come from? 

No, something was wrong.

He felt someone shaking him, and suddenly he wasn’t talking to Sirius, but Lily. He blinked twice in confusion, but there she was, shaking him awake, a one-year-old Harry—not four—babbling happily at her hip.

He’d had that dream again. The one where they’d made it to the other side of the war and were a happy family in a comfortable cottage, and not a family in hiding because a madman wanted to kill his son.

James deflated. It was the third time this week. It had felt so real this time . . .

“Dah-deeee! ‘ake up!” Harry yelled, bringing a soft smile to James’ face.

“Harry says it’s time for breakfast. Didn’t you, my darling?” Lily coos into Harry’s cheek.

“No!” Harry said with glee. It had been his favorite word as of late. 

James chuckled and put on his brave face again. “Is that so? Well, I can’t let the two of you go unfed, now can I?”

He ran a hand through his hair before tickling Harry’s round tummy, kissing his temple as he giggled and squirmed in Lily’s arms. “Fairly certain this one wants porridge. But what does my beautiful wife want for breakfast?” James asked, kissing Lily on his favorite spot behind her ear.

“Mmm . . . surprise me. You’re quite good at that, you know.”

“Well, you know I’m not the type to pat myself on the back, but if you insist.” He lifted Harry up into his arms as she laughed.

They walked to the kitchen, and James set about making breakfast while Lily made tea. Harry sat in his highchair playing with his stuffed quaffle and the stuffed black dog Sirius had gotten him last week.

“You had the dream again, didn’t you?” Lily asked softly. James sighed and nodded, focusing harder than necessary on the empty stove in front of him. He didn’t want to worry her, but it was hard to do when he was worried himself.

Lily glanced at him before making his tea just the way he liked, which was, coincidentally, just the way she hated. She handed him the cup, and he took it gratefully, running a hand through his hair after taking a sip.

She didn’t tell him it would be okay. They weren’t in the habit of making each other promises they couldn’t keep. But she squeezed his arm before coming to hug him from behind. “We’ve still got a lot of fight left.” She said.

He took her hand and kissed just below her wedding ring, the solitaire diamond and gold band that had once belonged to his mother. “We do.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head slightly, almost as if to clear out the dark clouds hovering over him. “Anyways, I’ve been meaning to ask you. What do you think about getting one of Hagrid’s pumpkins for next week? We can’t take Harry out for that barmy trick-or-treating thing, but there’s no reason he can’t have a great Halloween right here.”

“Where on earth would we put one of Hagrid’s giant pumpkins?” she asked, looking around the sitting room.

“We’re magic, love. We’ll find a way.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's been entirely too long since I've done any creative writing. This idea had been poking around in my brain for months and I finally decided to get it out. Find me on tumblr @corinnesamuels.


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